Lunch & Learn – Reducing Waste, Reclaiming Resources
Circularity in healthcare starts with a simple but vital question: what gets lost, and how can we reclaim it?
In this online Lunch & Learn, organised by the Institute for a Circular Society (i4CS), researchers share insights from two inspiring projects that connect Suriname and the Netherlands. Both show how creativity, knowledge exchange, and system innovation can drive more sustainable and regenerative healthcare.
Less waste in childbirth
Dr Megan Milota (UMC Utrecht) and Ryvann Soerohardjo (Anton de Kom University & Academic Hospital Paramaribo) compare material use during childbirth in the Netherlands and Suriname. Their life cycle assessment reveals key differences in consumption and waste — and what Dutch healthcare can learn from contexts where resourcefulness and efficiency are everyday realities. Supported by an ethnographic film and comparative study, this EWUU project fosters fair knowledge sharing across cultures.
Water Care: ⅔ reclaim, ⅓ regenerate
Social designer Joes Janmaat (Studio Sociaal Centraal) and Dr Karin Gerritsen (UMC Utrecht, Department of Nephrology) are developing Waterzorg — a system designed to regenerate dialysis water. In this session, Joes Janmaat shows how their collaboration demonstrates the mutual reinforcement of technological innovation and social design. While the system delivers tangible environmental benefits, it also raises a fundamental question: how can healthcare itself become regenerative, rather than merely less harmful?
This session is part of the Lunch & Learn series, where researchers from the EWUU Alliance (TU/e, WUR, UU, and UMC Utrecht) share examples of research, innovation and transdisciplinary collaboration.
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Location
- Online via Microsoft Teams
- Registration
Register now (Teams link and calendar file shared after registration).